Review + Giveaway: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: The irreverent space romp

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: 

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Genre: young adult sci-fi + ?????

Format/Source: 

Status: book 1 of the Aurora Cycle trilogy
Links: Illuminae review
Illuminae audio review
Illuminae merch
Gemina gif review
Obsidio review

Summary:

From the internationally bestselling authors of THE ILLUMINAE FILES comes an epic new science fiction adventure.

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.


They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. This does not affect the content of my review.

Blog Tour: LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff

I'm so excited to be kicking off the tour for Jay Kristoff's newest YA series LIFEL1K3! I LOVED this new sci-fi story, and I'm really glad to tell you why. Keep scrolling to check out my review and a giveaway for cooies of the book!

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: May 29, 2018

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Genre: young adult science fiction

Format/Source: ARC, TLA conference

Status: Book 1 of the LIFEL1K3 series
Links: Illuminae review, Gemina review, Illuminae audio review, Illuminae paperback blog tour, Obsidio review

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher at a work conference and volunteered to be part of the tour, which was organized & hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. This does not affect the content of my review. The full tour schedule can be found HERE. Please go give my fellow tour hosts some love!

Summary:

On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.

Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.

But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.

Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.

Blog Tour: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Today is my 30th birthday, and I couldn't be happier than to share a book I LOVE with all of you. Check out my review of the final installment of the masterfully told Illuminae Files and then scroll down to the giveaway!

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: March 13, 2018

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Genre: young adult science fiction

Format/Source: finished copy, from the publisher

Status: Book 3 of the Illuminae Files series
Links: Illuminae review (5 stars)
Gemina gif review (5 stars)
Illuminae audio review (5 stars)
Illuminae pb blog tour (All the Illuminae merch!)

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. The full tour schedule can be found HERE. Please go give my fellow tour hosts some love!




Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book because I am moderating the Dallas stop of the Obsidio publicity tour (and after I received my copy, I was offered a spot on this tour). This does not affect the content of my review.

Summary:

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Waiting on Wednesday: Obsido by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Obsidio
The Illuminae Files #3

by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Coming March 13, 2018

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Summary:

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heros will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Why I Want It:

BECAUSE I HAVE NEEDED IT SINCE JUNE 1, 2016! Because it's one of my all-time favorite series! Because I don't want to have died in vain in Gemina! I want this book. I DESERVE this book.

Why I think you should want it:

Well, if you're not already a fan of The Illuminae Files, I don't think there's much I can do to convince you to read it, but I'll try: this series is one of the most exciting, swooniest, funniest, most unique series I've ever read. The books are amazing, and the audiobooks are incredible. They're gorgeously written AND illustrated, and honestly, I'm just so impressed with the amount of work that has gone into them, from Amie and Jay, of course, to their editors and the artists (like Marie Lu!!!) and the copyeditors and audiobook producers and the full cast of narrators. Everyone who has touched these books made them into the most beautiful pieces of art, and I'm so grateful to all of them for making such a fantastic series for me to obsess over. 

If that hasn't convinced you, I reviewed Illuminae and the Illuminae audiobook and reviewed Gemina via gifs and collected a bunch of amazing Illuminae merch if you're into that sort of thing.

Blog Tour: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Welcome to the blog tour for the Illuminae paperback! As you all know, I ADORE this series, and I love to share it with readers and non-readers alike. I've reviewed both the book and the audiobook, and although I had the option to repost one of those reviews, I decided to do something more fun. I got to suggest several post options. It was tough to pick among them (because they were all topics I love!), but I went with the one I thought most fans would like. So keep reading for some cool Illuminae Files-themed merch including cookies (!!!), clothes, jewelry, stuff for your home, and yes, candles!

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: April 25, 2017

Publisher: Ember

Genre: young adult science fiction

Format/Source: arc/publisher & hardcover/Amazon

Status: book 1 of the Illuminae Files trilogy
Links: review, audiobook review

Summary:

Read the New York Times bestselling blockbuster that critics are calling -out-of-this-world awesome.- The first in an epic sci-fi series unlike anything else out there.

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she'd ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what's really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents--including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more--Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Praise for Illuminae:

"It certainly filled the Battlestar Galactica-shaped hole in my heart." — Victoria Aveyard, bestselling author of The Red Queen

"Brace yourself, because you're about to be immersed in a mindscape that you'll never want to leave." — Marie Lu, author of the bestselling Legend series

"Prepare yourselves for Illuminae." — EW.com

"You're not in for an ordinary novel experience. . ." — Bustle.com

"A truly interactive experience. . . . A fantastically fun ride." — MTV.com

Mary's Minute: Dream Panel: Teenagers in Space

This week I have the opportunity to do something unique and cool. I was asked to create my own dream panel of authors and/or characters for a fictional conference. I totally love this idea, especially considering I had the ability to use Big Name People or even characters.

I have a few ideas for this so I might do some more panels in the future. However, lately I've been really into science fiction, but only the ones that go where no man has gone before. Therefore I have brought in my favorite epic space authors and a few special guests (because when I reach for the stars, I literally reach for movie stars). Behold, I bring you:

Featuring:

Basically, Teenagers in Space would be a panel all about creating and enriching stories set in space. I would moderate because this is my dream panel, and I'm not passing up on an opportunity to meet Melissa, Chris, Sigourney, and Joss (the others I have had the pleasure of previously both meeting and moderating panels for!). We'd talk about boss ladies (Sigourney would monologue about Ripley, obviously) and sassy boys (Chris and Jay would discuss Star-Lord and Nik). We'd talk technology (what's up, AIDAN?) and badass spaceships, space battles and alien monsters, contagious diseases and loneliness in the big black. Research and gross stuff would also be a hot topic, and Beth would make the audience queasy with stories about boiling spit and other delightful effects of the human body in the vacuum of space (I have heard her talk about this & it's amazingly horrifying). 

If I blew this up into a festival or convention or if my picks weren't available (because sometimes you do need backups for your dreams), potential guests would include:
Mindee Arnett - Avalon series
Karen Bao - Dove Chronicles
Rhoda Belleza - Empress of a Thousand Skies (out in February!)
Pierce Brown - Red Rising trilogy
Alexandra Duncan - Salvage duology
Tessa Elwood - Inherit the Stars series
Claudia Gray - Lost Stars, Defy the Stars
Ava Jae - Beyond the Red trilogy
RC Lewis - Stitching Snow, Spinning Starlight
Marissa Meyer - The Lunar Chronicles 
Michael Miller - Kaitan Chronicles (book 1 Shadow Run released next year!)
Kass Morgan - The 100 trilogy
Phoebe North - Starglass duology
Adam Rex - The True Meaning of Smek Day (book that Home was based on)
Megan Shepherd - The Cage trilogy
AdriAnne Strickland - Kaitan Chronicles
the cast of Firefly
the cast of The 100
the cast of Star-Crossed (still mad this got cancelled)
the writers of Halo

Do you have any favorite space-based books? Who would be on your dream panel & what would it be about? Let me know in the comments!

Eventbrite is the the largest self-service ticketing platform in the world that helps people find and plan events. Be sure to check out their conference management page, which is a great resource for locating or planning conferences and events in your local area!

Audio Adventures Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Rating: 5 stars!

Narrator: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Lincoln Hoppe, Johnathan McClain (and many, many, many more!)

Pub date: October 20, 2015

Publisher: Listening Library
Length: 11 hours & 41 minutes

Novel

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: October 20, 2015

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Links: see my review here

Illuminae is one of my favorite novels of all time. Full stop. It's funny. It's scary. It's thought-provoking. It's swoony. It's smart. It's so very many amazing things, all wrapped up in a creative and unique package. I LOVE the epistolary style Amie and Jay used. Illuminae is a visual pleasure, but that meant I was a bit trepidatious to give the audio a try. I wasn't sure how it would translate given that so much of the story relies on the documents and the art. HAVE NO FEAR, audio listeners! I was immediately put at ease when I started listening to the audio because of the talent of the narrators (of which there are many) and the production quality and the audio effects.

First of all, the narrators. I've always had narrator issues since usually it's one or two people performing a whole cast. Illuminae gives me what I want in a full cast! Everyone is distinct. Olivia is Kady, Johnathan is Ezra, Lincoln is AIDAN (I think?), and then all the major secondary characters—video surveillance analyst guy, Jimmy, Winifred, Syra Boll, Torrence, Byron, etc—all had their own narrators too, plus plenty of background people to make up the rest. I was never confused about who was who, and I loved the IMs and interviews where the characters interacted because it actually sounded like a conversation between two people! BRAVO! The only time I ever had an issue was when I was looking forward to a particular scene with Jimmy, but because it was "video footage," the analyst guy ended up reading that scene. That was kind of disappointing. It's a sad scene, but I wanted to hear Jimmy's narrator perform it. Overall, though, I was ridiculously impressed. Everyone wholly embodied their character.

Olivia-as-Kady was sarcastic and prickly, but then she also pulled off soft, uncertain, exhausted, and emotionally wrung-out. Johnathan-as-Ezra was earnest AND THE DRUNK EFFING EMAIL IS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE (it sounds particularly awesome if you slow down the speed. MAJOR lolz!). Lincoln perfectly encapsulates AIDAN's robotic AI tone, but he also manages to be superior, weirdly humorous, condescending, and even, at times, sweet (but only with Kady); plus he did a great job with the computer code and the damage AIDAN sustains (ie "<error>"). It's a masterful performance. Syra is unsure; Winifred confident yet disapproving, the Marine with a heart. Jimmy is fun and a total bro, but I adored him. Everyone did such a great job, and I also love that listeners can hear a diverse cast reading diverse characters.

Illuminae the physical book has fantastic art, as mentioned, and yes, it's sad there's no way to really translate that audibly. Like Kady's space walk across the Alexander's hull, Ezra's rose, etc. But I thought the production team did a remarkable job creating unique aspects to the audio that couldn't be replicated on the page. There are sirens and alarms, blasters and gunfire, and more. We can't see the text bounce across the page during Kady's spacewalk, but we can hear her breathing in her envirosuit. We can hear Ezra's dogfight during the second encounter with the Lincoln. We can hear the afflicted tearing through the ship. It's visceral and intense, and you feel like you're IN the story. It's absolutely engrossing in the best way. I always know I love a book when it makes me forget the real world around and I feel like I live in the story's world, and this audiobook accomplishes that better than most.

I have been championing Illuminae for over a year now, and I have always recommended people both read and listen to it. Although I love to listen to books I've read before, I know not many people double up like that. In this case, for anyone who is able, I highly recommend it. The book is phenomenal and the audio perfect, but they are both wholly unique parts that create a whole story. It's incredible, and I don't know of any other book and audiobook that can do it.

Book Links:

   

About the Authors:

Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of the Starbound trilogy. Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of the Lotus War trilogy. Collectively they are 12'5" tall and live in Melbourne, Australia, with two long-suffering spouses, two rescue dogs, and a plentiful supply of caffeine. They met, thanks to international taxation law, and stuck together due to a shared love of blowing things up and breaking hearts.

Amie's Links:

    

Jay's Links:

    

Giveaway:

One winner will receive a digital copy of the Illuminae audiobook from Audible via the Send This Book feature. Open to anyone who can receive an audiobook this way. Terms and conditions of Send This Book are listed here. Entrants must be 13+ with parents' permission. Giveaway is open until 12 AM CST November 1. Please enter via Rafflecopter below; winner will be chosen at random, and odds are determined by number of entries. I reserve the right to disqualify any entries that are not in accordance with my giveaway policies as stated in the Review & Site Policies tab at the top of the page. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (no spoilers, just gifs and a giveaway)

Rating: all the stars

Pub Date: October 18, 2016

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Genre: young adult sci-fi space adventure mind fuck

Format/Source: ARC, BEA

Status: book 2 of The Illuminae Files
Link: Illuminae review

Summary:

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.


Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: October 20, 2015

Publisher: Knopf Book for Young Readers

Genre: young adult science fiction
(if general mind-f*ckery were a genre, tho, it'd be that)

Format/Source: arc/publisher & hardcover/Amazon

Status: book 1 of the Illuminae Files trilogy

Summary:

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.